In 1826, a Frenchman named Niepce needed pictures for his business. But he was not a good artist, so he invented a very simple camera（照相机）. He put it in a window of his house and took a picture of his garden. That was the first photo. The next important date in the history of photography（摄影术）was in 1837. That year, Daguerre, another Frenchman, took a picture of his reading room. He used a new kind of camera in a different way. In his picture you could see everything very clearly, even the smallest thing. This kind of photo was called a Daguerreotype.
Soon, other people began to use Daguerre's way. Travelers brought back wonderful photos from all around the world. People took picture of famous buildings，cities and mountains.
In about 1840, photography was developed. Then photographers could take picture of people and moving things. That was not simple. The photographer had to carry a lot of films and other machines. But this did not stop them, for example, some in the United States worked so hard. Mathew Brady was a famous American photographer. He took many pictures of great people. The pictures were unusual because they were very lifelike（栩栩如生的）.
Photography also became a kind of art by the end of the 19th century. Some photos were not just copies of the real world. They showed ideas and feelings, like other art forms.